Sunday, 10 May 2020

With the world becoming increasingly
interconnected, the global language services market has seen rapid growth. In the last ten years, the market has doubled in size, reaching 46.9 billion U.S.
dollars in 2019.

The market size of the global language services industry 2009-2021

Global language services

Generally speaking, the language services market can be divided into three
segments – instruction, translation, and localization. Translation differs from
localization in that the former involves tasks where one language needs to be
directly translated into another. This includes traditional activities such as
document translation and interpreting services. Localization, on the other
hand, refers to a broader process of cultural adaption, generally in more artistic areas such as
creating voice-over for film and television. Depending on the
context, either service may be required for digital platforms and online
content.

Regional markets

As is perhaps not surprising given the region’s high level of development and
linguistic diversity, Europe accounts for around half
of the global language services market. Given its diverse range of languages and high levels of economic development, it is perhaps not surprising that Europe is home to the largest language services market in the world, comprising almost half of the global market. The small size of the Latin
American market may appear surprising though; given Spanish is the second-most
spoken language globally. This, along with the large size of the
North American market, maybe in part explained by the high level of demand for
Spanish content within the United States.

Machine translation

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in the language services industry. Machine translation, which is the process of using software to translate from one language to another, is a fast-growing field that is expected to more than triple in size from 2017 to 2024. Accordingly, the two largest providers in the global language services market – Transperfect and Lionbridge – are investing heavily in this area, offering software-based ‘artificial intelligence’ translation in conjunction with their more traditional translation services.

Tuesday, 31 March 2020

In most languages, if someone said you had cancer, it would
be a diagnosis. In Dutch, it is more likely to be an insult. Kankerlijer
(“cancer-sufferer”) is one of a long list of Dutch profanities and expletives
derived from diseases. An undesirable person might be told to “typhus off”
(optyfussen) or “get consumption” (krijg de tering). If in (American) English
you laugh your ass off, in Dutch you might “laugh yourself the pleurisy”
(lachen je de pleuris). No one in England has been called a “poxy bitch” for
centuries, but in the Netherlands you can still call someone a pokkenteef. A
damned long way is a klereneind (“cholera-end”). And so on.

Because expletives are based on social taboos, in most
cultures they are linked to sex, excrement or religion. Many Dutch swear words
are as well, but they often feel weaker than the medical ones. Schijt is less
like its English cognate and more like the gentler French merde.
Mierenneuker(“ant-fucker”) is an anodyne expression for someone who fusses over
details. “Whore” is an insult in Dutch too, but when the rapper Lil’ Kleine had beef with pop singer Anouk last autumn, he went with the harsher kankerhoer
(“cancer-whore”).

Scholars are not sure why the Dutch swear with illnesses.
One theory links it to Calvinism, the puritanical strain of Protestantism that
caught on here in the 16th century, which holds that the virtue of those
destined for heaven will show itself in worldly prosperity, health, and hygiene.
“There was a shift in focus from the afterlife to this life, which, for
example, diminished the strength of ‘God damn it’,” says Marten van der Meulen,
a Dutch linguist and author of a book on swearing. In this theory, “a curse
might be stronger if you used something in actual life, like a disease.”

However, there is also what linguists call the frequency
hypothesis: the Dutch may curse with diseases simply because it caught on.
Language, as Laurie Anderson said, is a virus. Perhaps someday Dutch kids will
savage each other on the playground with cries of coronalijer.

Wednesday, 11 March 2020

When it comes to the world's ten most spoken languages, numbers tend to vary considerably between sources.

According to Ethnologue, Chinese (and all of its varieties such as Mandarin and Wu) is by far the most spoken language across the world with 1.31 billion speakers.

That's approximately 16 percent of the world's population. Indeed, there are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of the Chinese language and Mandarin is the most spoken (898 million speakers).

Widely spoken in South America as well as Spain, Spanish is the planet's second most widely spoken language with a grand total of 460 million speakers according to Ethnologue.

English has 379 million speakers while Arabic has 319 million. The latter includes 19 different varities, of which Egyptian Arabic is the most spoken (64.5 million speakers), followed by Algerian Arabic (29.3 million speakers).

Tuesday, 10 March 2020

Simona and Mārīte are the staff members of Nordic-Baltic
language service provider Baltic Media

Currently there is a very wide range of
translation services available in the Nordic-Baltic market. How not to get lost
in the wide offer and to evaluate that the translation agency you choose will
provide you with quality and cost-effective translation services?

Experience

One of the key
drivers of quality service delivery is the agency's translation experience. The
long-term operation of the company indicates that the customer is trusted by
the service provider, and over time the company has accumulated the necessary
experience in managing large and complex projects. Baltic Media was founded inSweden in 1991 and has been operating in the Baltic market since 1994. It is
one of the leading companies in the quality language services segment, with
extensive language service experience in Northern Europe, including large-scale
multilingual translation projects. In addition, the company has a long-standing
relationship with the various institutions of the European Union, successfully
meeting their high-quality requirements.

ISO certificate

ISO is the
International Organization for Standardization, which sets international
quality standards in various sectors and areas. The quality translation service
shall be indicated by the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system certificate
and/or the translation and localization quality certificate ISO 17100:2015.

The ISO certificate
is a definite quality assurance that demonstrates that quality assurance
routines, work environments, levels of responsibility are developed at all levels
in the company to ensure customer satisfaction, respect of requirements and
continuous improvement of the quality management system. Baltic Media operates
in accordance with the ISO 9001:2015 quality management system, which has
enabled the company to streamline its project coordination and vendor selection
procedures, as well as guaranteeing customer data security, storage and
confidentiality.

Quality of translation

A financially
advantageous offer often seems more attractive, but it is good to remember that
the lowest price does not provide a high-quality result. Translation costs do
not only include translation costs. Quality results are provided by translation
and translation editing and/or proofreading by qualified and experienced
linguists specializing in a particular field.

Baltic Media
translators only translate into their mother tongue and live in a country wherethat language is either the official language or the dominant language of
social life. The company has developed a system of supplier selection and
verification. All translators and editors recruited by Baltic Media have a
university degree in philology or some other area of their specialization (such
as IT) and have at least 5 years’ experience in translation. Careful selection
and testing of suppliers ensures that only professional translators and editors
are used for orders.

CAT tools using

Translation can often
take a considerable amount of time without the help of handy tools or
Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tools that help and facilitate the translation
process. These tools include dictionaries and translation memories and help
maintain consistent terminology and save you money on already translated
sections of text. CAT tools are sometimes referred to as computer-assisted
translation tools but remember that computer-assisted translation is not the
same as machine translation because the document is fully translated and edited
by a team of qualified linguists. Baltic Media provides translations with CAT
tools like SDL Trados Studio, Memsource, MemoQ and others, which ensure
consistency in terminology and speed up the translation process. In addition,
clients create their own translation memory file that is used for othertranslations, reducing future translation costs.

Professional translation project
staff

The translation
project is planned from start to delivery by a dedicated project manager who
selects the most appropriate executors who meet the company's quality
requirements, sets realistic deadlines and is responsible for quality control.
It is therefore essential that the staff entrusted with the management oftranslation projects, well-versed in translation, be educated, qualified andexperienced. Baltic Media is distinguished from other language services by the
fact that not only translators, but also its staff and management have advanced
linguistic education and scientific degrees in linguistics and communication.

There are a number of
aspects that need to be addressed to make sure that the translation service
provider you choose is trustworthy. If you make sure that the translation
agency complies with all the above rules, you cannot worry that you will
receive a quality translation for an adequate fee

Riga is a fantastic place to learn Latvian as it offers plenty in terms of sightseeing and entertainment. Many of the most beautiful and interesting sights are concentrated in the Old Town: https://www.riga-guide.com/

Seven Amazing Days

We encourage you to pack your travel bag, bring along your friends and spend 7 amazing days discovering the beauty of the Latvian language as well as the unique culture and nature of Latvia’s beautiful cities.

Accommodation and meals (except Latvian cuisine tasting) are not included in the rate. Please book your hotel, hostel or guest house yourself. Riga has a wide choice of accommodation for all budgets.

Monday, 17 February 2020

The SwedishLanguage. From Viking Times to the Present Day: Its Development, Its Peculiarities and Its Status. Swedish people celebrate Walpurgis, or Valborgsmässoafton in Lidingö 2010. It dates back as far as the Middle Ages. In the beginning, it was celebrated by merchants in the cities (the 30th of April marking the end of their fiscal year) but it was also celebrated on the countryside, to mark the passing of spring into summer. Farmers would let their livestock graze late into the evening and lit bonfires to ward off any predators or evil spirits lurking in the shadows. Credit: Baltic Media

The national language of Sweden
isSwedish. It is the mother tongue
ofapproximately 8 million of the
country’stotal population of almost 10
million.Swedish is also spoken by
around300,000 Finland Swedes, 25,000
of whom live on the Swedish-speakingÅland islands.Swedish is one of the two nationallanguages of Finland, along with
Finnish,for historical reasons. Finland
was partof Sweden until 1809.There has been a Swedish-speakingpopulation in Estonia since the MiddleAges. Today, only a fraction of it
remains.Since the mid-19th century
andup to the present day, more
thana million people have emigrated
fromSweden, primarily to North
America.It is estimated that Swedish is
spokenby several hundred thousand
peopleworldwide.

Despite the dominant status of
Swedish,Sweden is not a monolingual
country.The Sami in the north have
always beena domestic minority, and the
countryhas had a Finnish-speaking populationever since the Middle Ages.
Finnishand Meänkieli (a Finnish
dialect spokenin the Torne river
valley in northernSweden), spoken by a
total of approximately 250,000 people in Sweden,and Sami all have legal status asdomestic minority languages. Romany,Yiddish and sign language for the deaf also have a form of legal minority-language status.

As a result of immigration and theinflux of refugees in recent decades,
atleast 150 languages are now spoken inSweden.
Arabic is the most widespread,with at
least 150,000 speakers. Noofficial
statistics are kept on languageaffiliation in Sweden.

The Swedish alphabet

The Swedish alphabet has 29 letters and ends with å, ä
and ö. V and w are pronounced in the same way, as are s and z.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Å

Ä

Ö

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

å

ä

ö

How does Swedish sound?

The
characteristic immediately apparentto a
foreign ear is that Swedish is a melodious language with falling andrising tones and varying pitch accents:/´hunden/,
/`ra:dhu:s/, /`å:terställa/,/pro´ble:m/, /problem´a:tisk/, fotograf´i:/.A sequence of
letters such as burencan be pronounced
in two ways. Thenoun buren (the cage) has accent 1,with the full emphasis on bur-: /´bu:ren/.However, the participle form buren(carried), of the verb bära, has accent 2,with partial emphasis on the secondsyllable:
/`bu:ren/.

A particular characteristic of
thesound of Swedish is the many
vowelsounds, a, o, u, å, e, i, y, ä, ö, which canbe both long and short.

Vowel length often determines mean-ing in Swedish: mat (food) pronouncedwith a long a, matt (dull) pronouncedwith a short a, ful (ugly) pronouncedwith a long u, full (full) pronounced
witha short u.

Foreigners
also notice the specialSwedish u sound.
U is pronouncednot as in the German
word Buch (orthe English word boot),
but as a soundsomewhere between the
vowels inBuch and grün. The u can be short, asin hund,
and long, as in hus.

The
letterså, ä och ö are more visuallythan aurally distinctive. Å representsthe same vowel sound as in the Englishwords more and hot. Ä is equivalent tothevowelsincareandbest.Örepresentsthe same sound as in the French wordsbleu /-ö/, boeuf /-öff/ and chauffeur
/-ö:r/.Swedish also contains
combinationsof consonants that can be
difficult formany foreigners to
pronounce: vrak,sprängts, östgötsk. The
combinations of letters sj, skj and stj
are pronounced /∫/, for exampleas in
the English word she. For example:sjö
(sea), sjuk (sick), skjorta (shirt),stjärna (star).

Ö representsthe same sound as in the French wordsbleu /-ö/, boeuf /-öff/ and chauffeur
/-ö:r/.Swedish also contains
combinationsof consonants that can be
difficult formany foreigners to
pronounce: vrak,sprängts, östgötsk. The
combinations of letters sj, skjand stj are pronounced /∫/, for
exampleas in the English word she. For
example:sjö (sea), sjuk (sick),
skjorta (shirt),stjärna (star).

The standard Swedish r sound isan apical r, as in Spanish and Italian(but not as clearly articulated). In thesouthern parts of the country, a velar ris used, as in French.

Grammatical peculiarities

The hardest feature of Swedish
forforeigners to learn is the inverse
wordorder in sentences that start with
some- thing other than the subject. The verbalways comes second in the sentence.For example, ‘Anna kommer i dag’(Anna is coming today) but ‘I dag kommer Anna’ (Today, is coming
Anna)(not ‘Today, Anna is coming’).

A peculiarity of Nordic languages isthe postpositive definite article: man–
mannen (the man), hus–huset (thehouse),
hundar–hundarna (the dogs).Swedish can
also have a double definiteform: det
lilla huset (the little house).

The Nordic
languages can form a special passive form with -s: ‘brevet skrevs’ (the letter
is written), ‘brevet har skrivits’ (the letter was written).The old system of
three grammatical genders, han, hon, det(he, she, it), has been reduced to two
in standard Swedish: denand det. We now have båten(the boat) – den, huset(the
house) – det.

References to
time are a relic: Hur mycket är hon? Hon är halv två (What time is it? It is
one thirty).

In recent years, people have also started to
use a new gender-neutral pronoun, hen, partly to replace the combination han
eller hon(he or she) and partly for people who do not want to be categorised as
either man or woman.

In modern Swedish, the verb has the same form
in the singular and plural: jag är(I am), vi är (we are); jag tar (I take), vi
tar (we take). The old plural forms are now found almost only in hymns and in
Swedish drinking songs: ‘Vi äro små humlor
som ta oss en geting’ (We are small bumblebees which take a wasp).

Runic Swedish

The runic alphabet is
called Futhark after the six letters in
the first group. The 16-character Viking
era Futhark in its commonest form is
shown here. These are the so-called
Swedish-
Danish runes or normal runes.

Bokstav (the Swedish word
for letter)means ‘line carved in
beech wood’.Wood was the commonest material,but stone has been better preserved.

Influence
from other languages

Swedish has always been open to loansfrom elsewhere but has still survivedas a separate language. The arrival ofChristianity in the 11th century
broughtwith it a number of words of
Latin andGreek origin such as kyrka
(church),präst (priest), mässa (mass)
and paradis(paradise).

The influence from the rest of Europecontinued in the Middle Ages. Romancesof chivalry in verse and propagandasuch as rhyming chronicles emerged asliterature around the king and the court.The monastic system started translatingreligious literature. Vadstena Abbeybecame a
spiritual centre where manytexts were
produced.

Influence
from other languages Swedish has always been open to loans from elsewhere but
has still survived as a separate language. The arrival of Christianity in the
11th century brought with it a number of words of Latin and Greek origin such
as kyrka (church), präst (priest), mässa (mass) and paradis (paradise).

Towns grew
up as a result of trade and crafts. Words were borrowed and words were created
in Swedish to cope with all these new elements. The complicated sentence
structure and long-winded phrases of Latin left their mark on the written
language and this has remained to the present day.

However, the biggest influence of all on the
Swedish language came from German via the Hanseatic league.The old vindögat (window) in the roof was
replaced by a fönster in the wall.Eldhuset became kök (kitchen), mön (maiden) became jungfru, börja became
begynna (begin), gälda became betala (pay), mål and tunga became språk
(language). In the new towns, there were rådhus (town halls), borgerskap
(citizens), väktare (watchmen), fängelse(prisons), fogde (sheriffs) and bödel(executioners).

The borrowing
of German words continued throughout the Middle Ages and the Reformation in the
16th century, when Sweden adopted the Lutheran doctrine, and it continued
during the Thirty Years’ War in the 17th century.

The language of
science and higher education had long been Latin, theinternational language. However, inthe 17th century, when France under the‘Sun King’ Louis XIV became the leading nation
of Europe, French started to be-come a status language and even more so during
the 18th century, the century of culture and the Enlightenment.

In the 19th
century, English began to flow in with the vocabulary of industrial-isation,
travel and sport: jobb (job), strejk (strike), bojkott (boycott), räls (rail), lokomotiv
(locomotive), turist (tourist), sport, rekord (record).

When, at the
start of the 19th century, the Nordic countries ended their last war with each
other, a strong sense of solidarity emerged, giving rise to the Scandinavism
movement, followed in the second half of the century by the Modern Breakthrough
in literature.

Since the Second World War, English has been about the
only language from which words have been borrowed but there have been a great
many such words. Immigrants’ languages havehad little impact on Swedish, although kebab, pizza and couscous are now
everyday Swedish words.

Words loaned to other languages

During the
Viking era, several Nordic words were loaned to English. Window (fönster in
Swedish), vindue in Danish and Norwegian, from an olderNordic word vindauga, Swedish vindöga,
(opening in the roof). Starboard, from steer and board, from the Nordic styrbord,
the side of a ship on which the steering oar is attached.

A couple
of Swedish words in other languages are ombudsman and smörgåsbord, the latter
becoming smorgasbord in English.

The
missionary Ansgar came to the trading place Birka in Lake Mälaren, Sweden, in
the 9th century. The island itself is now called Björkö.

Standard Swedish and dialects

Standard Swedish developed out of the language spoken in Mälardalen and around
the capital, Stockholm. This was the seat of the administration and where the
upper class lived. The first translation of the Bible in 1541 (Gustav Vasa’s
bible) also contributed to the stabilisation of the written language and was of
great importance to standardisation of the language and to literature. Another
contributing factor was that a higher proportion of the population were able to
read. From the end of the 17th century, ministers were obliged to ensure that people
knew important passages from the Bible and Luther’s catechism.

The 18th century saw the emergence of an
educated middle class and with it the start of the journalistic Swedish we have
today. A scientific Swedish was also created and Sweden’s success in this field,
with representatives such as Carl von Linné and Anders Celsius, was also shared
with the people.

The development of standard Swedish continued
in subsequent centuries with inward migration to the cities, thegrowth of the press, public education(compulsory primary school wasestablished in 1842 with Swedish as a
separate subject), literature for the educated public (August Strindberg,Selma Lagerlöf, etc.), folk high schools and
popular movements (where generations of politicians learned to speak and write
in public), standards for the written language in the Swedish Academy
Glossary and eventually the broadcasting media.

Standard Swedish and its regional variants
essentially have the same vocabulary and inflections. The differences are
primarily in pronunciation and intonation. The most distinctive variants are
Southern Swedish and Finland Swedish (which also has a number of variant
words). However, people raised in Gothenburg, Stockholm, Gotland and Norrland
are also usually easy to identify. The way a person speaks often reveals which
part of the country they come from.

Pure dialect is spoken less and less. The few
people who speak a genuine local dialect in their home district usually switch
to a variant closer to standard Swedish when they encounter people
from elsewhere.

Finland Swedish

The Swedish used in Finland is
not a separate language, but it has features that differ from standard Swedish,
above all in speech. Like the Swedish used in Sweden, it also has a number of
different dialects. Swedish is spoken on the Åland islands, which are Swedish
speaking, in the coastal areas of southern Finland and further north in
Österbotten.

A characteristic feature of the
Swedish used in Finland is that it does not distinguish between accent 1 and
accent 2.
Speakers of standard Swedish think that Finland Swedish sounds ‘singsong’, while
speakers of Finland Swedish say the same about standard Swedish.

In general, Finland Swedish is pronounced more
literally than standardSwedish. The last two letters ofHelsingfors (Swedish for Helsinki) arepronounced by many as a separate r and a separate s, and not as a ‘sh’ sound,
as in standard Swedish. Djup (deep) and djur (animal) retain the d when
pronounced, where standard Swedish says /ju:p/ and / ju:r/. The u sound is also
different.

The national language of Sweden isSwedish. It is the mother tongue ofapproximately 8 million of the country’stotal population of almost 10 million.

Immigrant words

Established everyday words
thatarrived with immigrants include
tjej (girl) and jycke (dog) from Romany and kola (die) and kul (fun) (from
Finnish).

Guz (girl) from Turkish and
jalla! (hurry up!) from Arabic are two of the morewidely known words used in the Swedish
spoken in immigrant areas.

Gender equality in linguistic
usage Sweden is one of the countries in the world in which gender equality work
and the attitude to gender equality have advanced most. In linguistic usage, this
work is expressed in the fact that previously very masculine derivative endings
are now gender neutral, while female derivative endings have gradually become
uncommon. As a result, the previously masculine ending -are now designates both
genders. Lärare (teacher), författare (author) and bagare (baker) have replaced
lärarinna, författarinna and bagerska for women who have these occupations. The
same is true of konduktriser, direktriser and ambassadriser, who are now
konduktörer (conductors), direktörer (directors), ambassadörer (ambassadors). However, the transition has not been fully completed.

We still have servitriser
(waitresses), skulptriser (sculptresses) and aktriser (actresses).

The suffix -man is replaced in some cases. A
female riksdagsman is called riksdagsledamot (member of the Riksdag) and a
female forskare (researcher) is known as that and not as vetenskapsman
(literally man of science). Talesman is sometimes talesperson as in English (spokesperson).
But ombudsman and nämndeman (lay judge) are unchanged, and they are often
women.

Women are no longer given a title according to
their husband’s occupation. Överstinnor (colonels’ wives) and professorskor
(professors’ wives) are now an extinct species.

The female sexual organ has been given
a respectable new name after not having had one for a long time. Snippa is the
word, and it is used in particular by children. (The word snopp has long been
used for boys’ sexual organs.)

Does the Swedish language have a
soul?

The contrast between Swedish and other
European languages becomes clear in the translation of EU legislation. Where
French and German official language excels at producing complicated long sentences,
Swedish prefers short sentences with simple subordinate clauses. Of course, it
is possible to produce incredibly complex sentences in Swedish, and they are
produced, but the Latin influence on Swedish legal style has always been
counterbalanced by the Nordic heritage from the provincial lawrolls, with their
oral narrative style.

Some users of foreign languages
find this Swedish syntax rather basic, at least for argumentation, while others
love its directness and simplicity. The Swedish word formation system, with its
wealth of potential compounds, creates long words that are sometimes hard to
understand and may replace en-tire sentences or phrases. Words such as
resursallokering (resource allocation), ståndpunktstagande (standpoint), kvittblivningsproblematik
(problems getting rid of something), känsloidentifikation (emotional
identification) are favoured in official and specialist language.

Does Swedish have a future?

The Nordic language planning
bodies today express concern about what they call domain loss, which entails
one language losing terrain to another. The other language is, of course,
English, and the domains at risk are primarily scientific language and some
other areas of specialist language. Many companies with subsidiaries abroad now
have English as their corporate language. Most scientific dissertations are now
written in English. Some university teaching even takes place in English as
part of globalization. However, the situation is serious if those who are in
charge of the development of society are unable to take part in public debate
in their mother tongue because they lack Swedish words. This presents a risk to
the Swedish language, which is not universally fit for purpose, and it presents
a risk to democracy.

This risk has been taken seriously and
resulted in 2009 in a Language Act establishing that Swedish is the primary language
of Sweden, and its officiallanguage in
an international context.

Swedish is the language that it
must be possible to use in all areas of society. This means that everyone
resident in Sweden has a statutory opportunity to learn Swedish. Swedish must
be the common language not only for Swedish natives but also for the 20 percent
of residents who were born abroad.

The Swedish Language Act also establishes that
Swedish must be a complete language that supports society; that is, it must
contain all that is required, in particular specialist terminology, for it to
be possible for the various functions of society to be discussed in it. The language
of public agencies, public sector Swedish, must be cultivated, simple and
comprehensible.

The Swedish Language Act also
establishes the right of every individual to language, to develop and acquire
the Swedish language, to develop and use their own mother tongue and their own
national

minority language and to have the
opportunity to learn foreign languages. However, whether you fear or hope that English
will one day replace Swedish, you will have to wait.

Despite internationalisation,
most Swedes have their roots in a society that English cannot cover. They live
in a rich linguistic tradition, with literature on all levels and with stories
and songs, jokes and figures of speech. And most of those born abroad do not
come from an English-speaking culture either.

Even if young people today
intersperse their language with phrases and expressions in English, it is
Swedish they speak and write in their daily lives. The influence of English is
growing, but the Swedish language will still continue to exist in the
foreseeable future.

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